12 Jun 2013

Togo stars out of Libya trip

Lome - Togo players are refusing to play a Soccer World Cup qualifier in Libya after recent violence there led FIFA to move Friday's game from Benghazi to the capital, Tripoli.

Alexis Romao of Marseille and Jonathan Ayite of Brest flew back to France from Togo citing security worries as their reason for not wanting to travel to Libya. Togolese players want the match moved out of Libya.

Togo football has been affected by recent tragedies; a helicopter crash at Sierra Leone's Lungi airport in 2007 and an attack on the team bus in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda in 2010.

Togo captain Serge Akakpo says "after what we went through in Lungi and Cabinda ... you must understand that we are right to refuse to take any risk."

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